IJCS | Volume 32, Nº5, September/October 2019

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Prolonged electrical muscle stimulation exercise improves strength, peak VO2, and exercise capacity in patients with stable chronic heart failure. J Card Fail. 2009;15(4):319-26. 19. Lima PMB, Cavalcante HEF, Rocha ARM, Brito RTF. Physical therapy in postoperative cardiac surgery: patient's perception. Rev Bras Cir Cardiovasc. 2011;26(2):244-9. 20. Gosselink R, Boot J, Johnson M, Dean E, Nava S, Norrenberg M, et al. Physiotherapy for adult patients with critical illness: recommendations of the European Respiratory Society and European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Task Force on Physiotherapy for Critically Ill Patients. Intensive Care Med. 2008;34(7):1188-99. 21. Williams N, Flynn M. A Review of the efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in critically ill patients. Physiother Theory Pract. 2014;30(1):6-11. 22. Sillen MJH, Speksnijder CM, Eterman RA, Janssen PP, Wagers SS, Wouters EFM, et al. Effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation of muscles of ambulation in patients with chronic heart failure or COPD: a systematic review of the english-language literature. Chest. 2009;136(1):44–61. 23. Grosset JF, Crowe L, De Vito G, O’Shea D, Caulfield B. Comparative effect of a 1 h session of electrical muscle stimulation andwalking activity on energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in obese subjects. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2013;38(1):57-65. References Cerqueira et al. NMES after cardiac surgery Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(5):483-489 Original Article This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License number 429.256. All the procedures in this study were in accordance with the 1975 Helsinki Declaration, updated in 2013. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.